


Castiel's Cathedral

by allthebeautifulthings9828



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Castiel, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy Ending, Implied Castiel/Dean Winchester, M/M, Massacre of the Innocents, POV Dean Winchester, Past Castiel - Freeform, black death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2013-08-06
Packaged: 2017-12-22 15:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/914922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthebeautifulthings9828/pseuds/allthebeautifulthings9828
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumors that Gabriel might still be alive and hiding in French cathedrals have Dean, Sam, and Castiel trying to find him. As the three of them dig through books on old cathedrals, Dean discovers one with a very familiar name. He confronts Castiel about it, which makes the angel tell the story of how rebelling against his superiors for humanity during the Black Death earned him the devotion of that French village.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Castiel's Cathedral

"You wanna explain this, Cas?" Dean dropped a dusty old library book on the motel room table in front of the angel.

Castiel merely glanced at the page with lengthy text blocks and inset photographs. The slightest flush of pink touched his cheeks as his hand rubbed the back of his neck, mumbling, "Oh... that."

"Yeah,  _that_. What the hell?"

Interest drew Sam closer for a look too. He leaned over Castiel's shoulder and made a sound of surprise when he recognized the words. Rumors were flying on 'angel radio' that Gabriel was alive somewhere, hiding out in fancy French cathedrals like the drama queen that he was. The three of them locked away in a motel room combing through books and records of every French cathedral for any clues that might lead them to the disguised archangel.

Except in a book of medieval French architecture from the Burgundy region, Dean found a modest cathedral named after someone he knew very well. Intimately even, not that Sam knew about  _that_ yet. But as Dean looked closer, one of the inset photographs showed a twenty foot stained glass window depicting the patron angel of that church. Classic white robes clothed his figure while a golden shiny halo matched fluffy golden wings. It didn't look like the one he knew so intimately, but then again, his current vessel wasn't born until the 70s.

"Yes, that cathedral is named for me," Castiel admitted as if it was immodest to say so.

"How do they know about you?" asked Sam with the curiosity of a boy.

"Did," he corrected. "Past tense. This cathedral was built in 1355."

The date seemed significant to Sam, who's brow wrinkled. "After the Black Death."

"Yes."

"Nerd," Dean muttered. He snatched the book back and looked closer at the twenty foot stained glass window. "Was this what you looked like or were they guessing?"

"That was my vessel," he said, a sideways glance on the page.

"You look like you're ashamed of it," Sam voiced what both he and Dean were thinking.

Sighing, Castiel stood from the table and wandered to the window. With his back to the Winchester brothers, he began to explain. "Sam, I got the patronage of that cathedral through rebellion. To an angel, that's quite shameful, yes." His head bowed. "The Black Death, as you humans called it, was really God trying to regain power over the Earth. Humans had deviated from true faith before then, so God used the three Fate sisters to create the plagues. Our task as angels was to carry out God's will by ensuring the Fates were allowed to create the plagues and wipe out a certain number of the population. It wasn't the first time God cleaned out the planet. It was, however, the first time after Christ."

Dean shook his head. "Great dad, I'd say. Obey or die a mess in a pile of pus."

"That was how I felt too. Questioning my orders was dangerous. I was sent to that region of France and I noticed the villages were populated by rather young people. There were so many innocent babies who never had an opportunity to live obediently or not." Castiel paused as if his mind took him further back into the past. "I disobeyed once before, during the Massacre of the Innocents, because I couldn't understand why babies were marked to die. I saved a few families at that time, I got punished for it, and then I saved an entire village in the Black Death later. I was punished for that too."

"Shit..." Dean muttered under his breath.

Castiel faced the brothers again and stuffed his hands in his trench coat pockets. Haunted shadows tainted the blue of his eyes. "Except my superiors decided they couldn't execute me for disobedience because the people of that village began building that cathedral. My disobedience brought more faithful back into the flock. They couldn't comprehend it. I tried to explain that loving humanity would build stronger faith than beating them into obedience." He shrugged. "By that time, the whole host was corrupted. Nothing I said would have made any difference."

"You tried," countered Sam. "You know us. We'd rather go down fighting than go down giving up."

"Don't be ashamed of your cathedral being built because you rebelled," Dean added in agreement. He tapped the picture in the book. "You earned their support because you did the right thing. Who knows how many people are alive now because of you?"

"Butterfly effect." Nodding, Sam grabbed a beer out of the cooler and passed it to the angel. "Have a beer. Enjoy more rebellion."

A shy smile tugged at Castiel's full lips. He hesitated but accepted the beer. The entire posture and countenance of him resembled a do-gooder hanging with the bad crowd, yet secretly liking it. A long swallow of the beer crawled down his throat. Then he peered at the label as if shocked it tasted so delicious.

Dean, on the other hand, felt a little weird about the whole thing. Something in him honestly saw Castiel as a man, not an angel, and maybe compartmentalizing him that way allowed him to carry on an intimate relationship without the interspecies factor clouding his brain. But the pictures in the book served as a giant billboard sign, flashing in Dean's face that he was, in fact, dating a holy being. If dating was even the correct word. It wasn't like they went to dinners and movies or held hands. They were just  _together_.

A sigh of his own filled his chest as he slammed the book shut. "I can't believe I'm sleeping with an angel," he muttered under his breath.

"What?" Sam's head flipped around so fast that his hair whipped his eye.

"What?" repeated Dean as if he hadn't said anything at all.

Castiel merely smirked and swallowed another mouthful of beer.


End file.
